The Daily Blessing Page
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Day 1: We left KGPC blessed and charged by the congregation to go forth and do a servant's chores.
It took us about eight hours to get here.
Safe, sound, a bit tired, but warmly welcomed by the Assistant Pastor, his wife, Carol Boesch, and others.
We found dinner at Vesuvio's Pizza, a local favorite.
Set up our rooms and got ready for our first work day tomorrow and had a quiet devotional.
Then Cindy and I went off in search of a late night wifi location.
God is good all the time, all the time God is good.
We feel blessed to be able to come, blessed to have such wonderful support, blessed to be able to work for a God who equips the called. We have faith that whatever tomorrow brings, He will provide whatever we need in time for us to put it to the use He intends for it.
Thank you all.
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DAY 2:
Blessed with a wonderful breakfast from Dee Walker we headed out to our first home. As we leave for work each day, we see this message:
Angelo and Rose had four feet of water come through their single floor home. FEMA gave a contractor $30,000 to fix it for them. He worked less than 3 days before disappearing. They have been living in a FEMA trailer for eight months.
We arrived to find some additional work done but not even one room in livable condition.
We made good progress. We got real tired. We really appreciated the showers at the Vive gym, free to volunteer teams working with Shore 2 Recover. We really, really appreciated the meal at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Bay Head, free to volunteer teams.
There is so much gratitude here for any help that is given. The stories and the pictures that everyone has truly tear at our hearts.
Tomorrow we work that much harder to be sure that Angelo and Rose can start moving the things that they could salvage back into their home.
Here's our record of today's efforts:
DAY 2:
Blessed with a wonderful breakfast from Dee Walker we headed out to our first home. As we leave for work each day, we see this message:
Angelo and Rose had four feet of water come through their single floor home. FEMA gave a contractor $30,000 to fix it for them. He worked less than 3 days before disappearing. They have been living in a FEMA trailer for eight months.
We arrived to find some additional work done but not even one room in livable condition.
We made good progress. We got real tired. We really appreciated the showers at the Vive gym, free to volunteer teams working with Shore 2 Recover. We really, really appreciated the meal at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Bay Head, free to volunteer teams.
There is so much gratitude here for any help that is given. The stories and the pictures that everyone has truly tear at our hearts.
Tomorrow we work that much harder to be sure that Angelo and Rose can start moving the things that they could salvage back into their home.
Here's our record of today's efforts:
The Team with Rose and Angelo
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Day 2
We surveyed the next house. Mike woke during the storm to hear his basement filling with water. That lower bedroom is now stripped bare to the concrete walls. We'll be framing out the room, and getting it ready for the electrician to replace the wiring. We'll start that work tomorrow while most of the team keeps working on the first house.
Where we finished the drywall in the main portion of Angelo and Rose's house!
Rose and Angelo came by to check on their "kids", bring us some water, and look things over. Rose cried over seeing her house come back to life.
We had lunch at the Shelter Cove Beach Park.
We were hosted by the Point Pleasant Beach Rotary Club for dinner and entertained by the Oceaneers, a Barbershop Quartet Club.
Everyone agreed it was a great evening.
We went back to Harvey Memorial for our evening devotional.
We recounted how we saw God's hand in the day's work and events; how His planning put this all together: us, Carol, Harvey Memorial, Shore 2 Recover, Vive Gym, The Rotary Club, Angelo and Rose, and now Mike.
God is good all the time. All the time God is good.
His steadfast love endures through us to those we help. And we are basked in the reflected glow of their appreciation and grateful thanks.
There are so many people who thank us just for showing up. We try to tell them that without their support, we couldn't even be here. God's grace has placed each of us here, to support each other, in love and humility, as His servants.
Tomorrow is another opportunity to continue serving Him, through serving others.
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Day 3
Not a lot of pictures today. But we saw a lot on the way to work; took the beach route to the Toms River house. Tilting, broken, homes, some torn open, some torn in half, many just piles of rubble, many just missing, completely gone. Lagoons and channels full of sand. Whole neighborhoods declared uninhabitable. Hard to fathom how much is gone. Hard to imagine how hard it is to pick up the few pieces remaining and starting over.
Really weird being able to go just a mile or so and see "normal".
Day 2
We surveyed the next house. Mike woke during the storm to hear his basement filling with water. That lower bedroom is now stripped bare to the concrete walls. We'll be framing out the room, and getting it ready for the electrician to replace the wiring. We'll start that work tomorrow while most of the team keeps working on the first house.
Where we finished the drywall in the main portion of Angelo and Rose's house!
Rose and Angelo came by to check on their "kids", bring us some water, and look things over. Rose cried over seeing her house come back to life.
We had lunch at the Shelter Cove Beach Park.
We were hosted by the Point Pleasant Beach Rotary Club for dinner and entertained by the Oceaneers, a Barbershop Quartet Club.
Everyone agreed it was a great evening.
We went back to Harvey Memorial for our evening devotional.
We recounted how we saw God's hand in the day's work and events; how His planning put this all together: us, Carol, Harvey Memorial, Shore 2 Recover, Vive Gym, The Rotary Club, Angelo and Rose, and now Mike.
God is good all the time. All the time God is good.
His steadfast love endures through us to those we help. And we are basked in the reflected glow of their appreciation and grateful thanks.
There are so many people who thank us just for showing up. We try to tell them that without their support, we couldn't even be here. God's grace has placed each of us here, to support each other, in love and humility, as His servants.
Tomorrow is another opportunity to continue serving Him, through serving others.
___________________________________________________
Day 3
Not a lot of pictures today. But we saw a lot on the way to work; took the beach route to the Toms River house. Tilting, broken, homes, some torn open, some torn in half, many just piles of rubble, many just missing, completely gone. Lagoons and channels full of sand. Whole neighborhoods declared uninhabitable. Hard to fathom how much is gone. Hard to imagine how hard it is to pick up the few pieces remaining and starting over.
Really weird being able to go just a mile or so and see "normal".
Potluck Dinner and really good conversation at Harvey Memorial with a hymn sing in the sanctuary afterwards.
Everyone went to bed early. We are all feeling the end of the week getting closer and pray that we will get "enough" done for these two families.
The Harvey Memorial congregation welcomed us into their church family, as has everyone we've encountered. So many little acts of grace and goodness have come together to support this effort.
God is good all the time. All the time God is good.
Thanks to Him for having brought this all together.
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Day 4
Worked both houses today and stopped by the Bucket Brigade!
Shore 2 Recover and The Bucket Brigade each got a $500 check from KGPC!
Both were very, very grateful.
Saw more demolition. Almost as many contractor trucks on the highway as folks headed for the beach.
Making great progress at Angelo's and Rose's!
Enjoyed (Jersey) Mike's Subs on the front stoop.
Enjoyed Rose's gift of cookies and thank you note even more.
At Mike and Audrey's we started framing in earnest.
Dinner at St Mary's by the Sea Episcopal in Point Pleasant Beach included some rally great desserts.
Followed by a stroll down the block to Hoffman's Ice Cream, a Point Pleasant tradition!
Then back to Harvey Memorial for evening devotions, and for some, an early bedtime.
Lots of God moments today on all fronts. Folks supporting us, us supporting the two families, other volunteer teams helping other folks around the area.
Learning the stories of "our" two families has been a humbling and moving experience.
Our loving, merciful God has given these folks a message and a reason to hope in Him and the future He has for them.
God is good all the time. All the time God is good.
We are so grateful for the opportunity God has given us to be here and to be of some assistance.
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Day 5: Our Last Work Day
The Team agreed last night to work as long as possible today. We wanted to get as much as we could done for these two families.
Here's a few shots of how things looked as we took our leave.
We did not just get a lot of work done on their house. God gave them hope that their home could once again be a love filled place for their extended family. A hope they appeared to have lost when we first arrived.
We completed about half the framing in Mike and Audrey's basement. This room had been their oldest son's bedroom and a family hang out until he died suddenly last year. Returning it to a useful room has lifted their spirits immensely.
On seeing how far we got, Mike exclaimed, "I have doors!" Not quite, but they can at least now once again see where the doors are supposed to go.
After packing up all our tools and taking our leave, we headed over to The Bucket Brigade to drop off the last of our donations.
Then it was off to Carol Boesch's home for a pool party with the Pastor and Assistant Pastor of Harvey Memorial and their families.
And for one more dinner, Carol had arranged for us to stuff ourselves. And then offer irresistible desserts, and then try to give us more food to take with us. It was all delicious, but we had to decline. Even with all the work, we all think we've gained weight this week.
So for one more evening, Cindy and I headed to McD's to update this blog.
Hope you have enjoyed it.
We have all seen the hand of God active in so many things this week. It was humbling to think we had a small part in His work.
So many people thanked us for coming, but there were so many people supporting us that it is hard to take any credit at all for any of it.
God truly has been at work on the Jersey Shore. It has been a wonderful privilege to have been able to join Him in it.
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Day 6: The Trip Home
We loaded everything up, ate breakfast, took a last team picture (to be posted later), and got underway.
It was hard to leave both homes unfinished. We did what we could in the time we had. We had such great support without which the work would have been much harder.
Other volunteer teams will be following us at both homes. There is so much more work to be done, at these homes and across the region.
We stepped up to join God where he was. We had a small part in helping move His plan forward.
We give grateful thanks for the opportunity God presented to us to be a part of it all and to all those in Virginia Beach and in Point Pleasant who helped us along the way.
